Thursday , March 28 2024
For photographers who want to learn to paint!

eBook Review: How to Paint an Oil-Style Painting Of A Child In Corel Painter by Karen Sperling

How to Paint an Oil-Style Painting of a Child in Corel Painter is an ebook made especially for the Kindle Reader. If you don’t have a Kindle Reader, you can also download a Kindle Reading App that is available for a wide range of devices including PC and Mac Computers, iPhone, BlackBerry, Windows Phone 7, and Android Devices, as well as the iPad.

How to Paint an Oil-Style Painting of a Child in Corel Painter is a tutorial that originally appeared in Karen Sperling’s Artistry Tips and Tricks ezine. It takes you through the process of creating an oil painting by using the photo of a child and Corel Painter– she diagrams the process for versions X, 11, and 12 of Corel Painter. 


Chapter 1, “Introduction,” provides a brief introduction to the book as well as to the background of the author, providing links to her other materials as well as information on Corel Painter and some of the layout differences between the three versions. Also a link for downloading the picture so you can work directly with it.

Chapter 2, “Getting Ready to Paint,” takes a look at how to choose a photo that it appropriate for this kind of oil painting. She is using one of André Hôte’s photos and here she describes the logic path she took for selecting this particular image. Then she describes the color scheme and her reasons behind this choice. Finally she opens the file in Photoshop to make some adjustments to lighten up parts of the image and improve contrast.

Chapter 3, “Painting Faces and Hair,” first describes the brushes that were used and then gets into the detail of how these tasks were accomplished. In this chapter she describes the goals to work in the color scheme while creating drama to the painting. Also she describes working with custom palette’s as well.

Chapter 4, “Painting Clothing,” follows the adage that a painting contains less detail than a photo and so she describes the technique for pulling this off. She shows you how to get oil-like brush strokes, how to follow the tones, and the best kind of strokes to get the oil painting look.

Chapter 5, “Painting Plants,” sometimes means adding more to your painting than already exists. Here you will see how to add berries to the plant as well as adding more leaves to fill in the space better.

Chapter 6, “Painting Backgrounds,” next looks at the background. Many times these are relatively uninteresting and need to be worked to add color harmony. Here you will see how to adjust colors to get a better looking background.

Chapter 7, “Finishing Touches,” include making final adjustments to the hair which had grown too much, restoring some of the original photo through blending, and in general, making the image look better.

How to Paint an Oil-Style Painting of a Child in Corel Painter is a very good tutorial on how to create an oil painting using Corel Painter. It is complete, easy to follow, and steps you through everything that you need to know. At the price, it is hard to beat and so I can easily recommend this tutorial.

About T. Michael Testi

Photographer, writer, software engineer, educator, and maker of fine images.

Check Also

SXSW

SXSW 2023 Film: ‘Angel Applicant’ – A Story Within a Story

Art can have a profound influence on our lives. Paintings of angels from 90 years ago helped artist Ken Meyer deal with disease.